


Rose Scented Perfume

by talkfastauburn



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Angst, Cheating, Crying, Established Relationship, M/M, Sad Ashton, cheater luke, cross dressing, fem calum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23952892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talkfastauburn/pseuds/talkfastauburn
Summary: Rose scented perfume, makeup smudged along the collars of his shirts, that one bruise on the back of his neck that he swore wasn’t a hickey.or,In which Luke cheats on Ashton with someone completely unexpected, leaving Ashton with no boyfriend and no best friend.
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood, Michael Clifford/Ashton Irwin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	Rose Scented Perfume

**Author's Note:**

> i’m a sucker for cheating fics. something about the sadness and the drama aspect just kiLLS ME!! 
> 
> i’ve read like forty cheating fics in the past three days,,, they’re like drugs for me i swear and i feel like there isn’t enough of them . 
> 
> also, mashton is my #1 ship forever and i love them with my whole heart but i also feel like its the least appreciated and read so im doing lashton which is much more popular so i can get more kudos lmao i just want Clout jk it ends with mashton bc i cant help myself

The smell of rose scented perfume still burns his nose to this day.

He can’t go to sleep without that scene he had walked in on that day flashing through his mind. 

He can’t look at old pictures from high school without thinking of the boy who fucked his Luke and in turn fucked Ashton over. 

Ashton doesn’t know how to forget what he saw that day.

He doesn’t know how to get the image of that dark red duvet on that bed he’d shared with Luke for the past three years off of his mind, can’t stop seeing the looks on his boyfriend and best friend’s faces when he walked into _his_ room.

He doesn’t know if he’ll ever move on.

-

_He was having a really good day._

_He had gotten promoted at work, no longer an assistant for his boss but instead a ‘secretary,’ which seems the same, and it kind of is, but now he makes an extra seventy cents an hour and instead of delivering coffee to people around the office, he delivers paperwork and messages and new assignments._

_He got to leave work an hour early, and he was ready to go home and surprise Luke with the good news._

_On the way home from work, his mum called and said that Harry had won his football game, and scored two goals himself. Ashton got to talk to his mum and his little brother who lived an hour away from him, which was always something good._

_He stopped by the store, running in and buying a bottle of champagne and donated twenty dollars to one of those ‘feeding starving children’ organizations which he normally has to turn down since he doesn’t usually have much more than a dollar to give, but he figured that if he’s having a good day then those children should be having one, too._

_When he was in the parking lot, he saw Michael who had been buying some eggs to bring back to the bakery he owns since he ran out. They exchanged light conversation until Michael said he ‘had to get back asap.’ He didn’t get the chance to talk to Mike often recently other than through text so it was good to see him in person again._

_As he was driving home, he saw a cute little bird on the side of the road. It’s not that good of an aspect to his day, but he just really like birds._

_If only he knew how quickly all of these good things would come crashing down the minute he walked into his shared house._

_He pulled into the driveway, grabbing the bottle of champagne and his suit jacket from the back seat before walking to the side entrance by the garage. He didn’t like walking through the front door, it screeched loudly since the hinges were rusted and he hadn’t had a chance to replace them._

_Maybe if he walked through the front door, the sound could have carried through the house and he wouldn’t have had to walk in on what he did._

-

Ashton still believes the universe had it out for him that day. 

Giving him all of those things to be happy about, just to tear it all away with one simple scene. 

He decided he hated the universe.

-

_The first thing he noticed was the blue skirt on the dining room floor._

_There was a laundry basket full of clothing on the table, so he assumed maybe it was one of Calum’s that he had left when he stayed over one day that had just fallen out._

_But as he walked through the house and heard the noises, he couldn’t help but feel sick to his stomach._

_He walked up the stairs, his heart in his throat as he heard the_ thump, thump, thump _of wood hitting the wall, the moans echoing through the hallways._

_He felt a dry sob rip through his throat at the idea of what he would find behind the door of his bedroom._

_Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe and he felt tears burning his eyes. He wouldn’t let himself cry, not now and not if his suspicions are confirmed about what’s going on on the other side of his bedroom door._

_“Please, Luke, don’t be doing what I think you are,” he spoke quietly to himself as he placed his hand on the door knob, ready to throw it open and kick both of the people in the bed out of his fucking house._

_He counted down from five before pushing it open, not allowing himself to second guess his choice or flee down the stairs and come back in a few hours and pretend nothing was happening._

_His heart immediately broke at what he saw._

_Right there on the bed, staring right at him, was_ Luke, his Luke, _on top of Calum._

_His best friend since elementary school. Calum Hood._

_He couldn’t believe this._

_“What the fuck?” He cried, his voice cracking at the end as he stared at his boyfriend and his best friend, way too close than they should be, and naked, for God’s sake, laying on the bed he’d shared with Luke for three whole fucking years. Fuck._

_“Ashton, I-” Calum started, his voice shaking._

_“No. No, no, no, this isn’t happening. I’m gonna fucking wake up and this is all going to be a dream and I’m not actually seeing my best fucking friend in bed with my boyfriend!”_

_Luke slowly pulled away from Cal and got up, keeping a sheet wrapped around his wait, and Ashton watched Calum’s face twist, realizing Luke was_ inside of him _the whole time Ashton had been standing there._

_“You two are so fucking disgusting! I can’t even fucking stand to see either of you right now. Get your fucking clothes on and get the fuck out of my house.”_

_“Ash, baby, please.”_

_“Don’t you fucking dare, Luke. I just watched you pulling your fucking dick out of my best friend’s ass, don’t call me your fucking ‘baby’ right now. Get out.”_

_He watched Luke’s eyes turn sad, and saw the regret filling his face, Calum’s too, but he didn’t allow himself to look much longer, instead just turning around and walking back downstairs._

_He went straight to the kitchen, pulling a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and taking a swig. Or four._

_He heard footsteps coming down the stairs, watching Luke walk over to the skirt on the floor and picking it up before walking back upstairs._

_Great._

_Just fucking great._

_He took a few more drinks from the bottle before walking over to the wall next to the dining room table and pulling a picture frame down._

_It was him and Calum, probably around seventeen, holding hands while they stood at the top of a small mountain they had hiked on a camping trip with Calum’s family. He could see Mali and David standing off to the side, Joy had taken the picture._

_Before he could think about the memory further, he turned around and threw it straight at the ground, watching as the glass flew across the room in shards. He felt tears dripping from his eyes and he reached for another photo._

_This time, it was him and Luke. They were sitting in a convertible that Ashton had rented just for the sake of taking pictures in, but they ended up goofing off more than anything._

_They had set the phone up on the dashboard on a timer and climbed to the backseat, Luke throwing his arm around Ashton’s shoulders and pressing a hard kiss to his cheek. Ashton was smiling wider than he had ever done before and he-_

_He threw it at the ground just like the last one, not realizing he was fully sobbing until it shattered._

_He kept grabbing more pictures, not even letting himself stop to think about the memories with them, just checking to make sure none of the one’s he was smashing were of his family._

_He had thrown seven pictures by the time Luke came back down stairs, a scared looking Calum following behind him, his head down._

_“Ashton! Stop!”_

_Ashton didn’t listen. He threw down another picture, Luke’s favorite. It was him and Calum, both of them with huge smiles on their faces. Ashton was holding a beer in his hand and he had red glitter smudged across his cheeks. Calum was wearing a beautiful red dress._

_“Ashton, stop it.”_

_He felt Luke’s hand wrapping around his wrist as he reached for another picture before he even saw the blonde man walking towards him and he quickly jumped back, ripping his arm from the man’s grasp._

_He felt the crunching of glass under his feet, glad he hadn’t removed his shoes._

_“Don’t fucking touch me. You have no fucking right to grab me like that. Get the fuck away from me and get out of my house.”_

_“It’s my house, too, Ashton!”_

_“Not any fucking more, it isn’t, Luke! Not since ten minutes ago when I caught you with my best friend! Also, what the fuck, Calum? Was twenty two years not important enough for you to not fuck around with my fucking boyfriend? What the hell is wrong with you? I’ve known you since kindergarten and you fucking do this? What the fuck?”_

_He felt his heart shattering into hundreds, thousands, millions of pieces as he fell to the floor, not even caring as he felt the glass digging into his knees._

_His breathing was heavy, and he was sobbing dryly. He didn’t feel anymore tears falling but his eyes burned with the need to cry again. He let a painful sob rip through his throat, immediately coughing and looking up at the two people who were supposed to love him unconditionally._

_“Ashton, you need to calm down, you’re having a panic attack. Just breathe, love, calm down. We can talk about this!”_

_Ashton quickly felt the panic subside and anger taking it’s place._

_“Oh, we can talk! Good! How about you talk to me about how long this has been happening? How long have you been fucking my best friend? Huh, Luke? When did I stop being enough for you!”_

_He stopped looking at Luke and directed his gaze to Calum who was still staring at the ground, tears falling from him eyes. “Don’t cry, Cal. You don’t have a reason to cry. You did this. Not me! What did I do to deserve this, huh? I’ve been nothing but a good friend to you for twenty two years!”_

_He kept yelling, not being able to stop himself until his voice went hoarse and he couldn’t anymore._

_“How long, Luke?” He felt his voice break at the end as he looked up into Luke’s sad eyes._

_“Eleven months.”_

_Ashton didn’t think his heart could break anymore than it had already._

_“Oh,” it was currently August, meaning they’d been doing this since September. Their anniversary is in October._

_“Our five year anniversary? You were fucking Calum around then? And Christmas? My fucking birthday? How often, Calum? How many times have you been in my bed while I was gone?”_

_Calum shook his head. “I can’t, Ash, I can’t.”_

_“Yes, you fucking can! If you can come in here and fuck my boyfriend in my god damn bed then you can tell me how often! How many times, Calum?”_

_Calum was still crying, his whole body shaking._

_“At least once a week.”_

_He had said it so quietly that Ashton almost didn’t hear it. “Get the fuck out of my house. Both of you.”_

_Luckily this time they listened. But right before he walked out, Luke turned around. “I’m so sorry, Ash.”_

_Ashton looked up, “no, you aren’t.”_

_The last thing he remembers is the sound of the front door screeching open._

-

It all started to make sense after that day. 

Luke’s weird work hours, the times when he’d tell Ashton to stay at Michael’s for just a bit longer, when he’d show up in the middle of the night from an apparent “night shift” that Ashton knew he didn’t have.

It all made sense now.

Rose scented perfume, makeup smudged along the collars of his shirts, that one bruise on the back of his neck that he swore wasn’t a hickey.

Calum used rose perfume. Calum wore makeup. Calum loved giving neck kisses, Ashton knew because Calum told him.

Luke would always say the makeup on his shirts was from hugging Calum before he left work. He and Calum worked together, that’s how he’d met Luke in the first place. “He’s so short, his face just goes right against my neck. Rubs his make up all over me.” 

The two shared an office and Luke said Calum liked to spray the perfume as if it were an air freshener.

Ashton wonders if they’d ever fucked in that shared office.

Ashton remembers a few days before his birthday when Luke and Calum had disappeared together, Luke coming back a little ruffled up. His hair was a mess but he said Calum had just messed it up to be an ass. They’d later told him they disappeared to talk about Ashton’s birthday gift. 

Fuck.

He can’t believe he’d been so oblivious.

-

_Ashton was glad it was the weekend. It was a Friday when he found them, so he could make the hour drive to his mum’s house to tell her about everything._

_He had texted Luke before he left though._

_He had changed the man’s contact name from what Luke had set it as five whole years ago, ‘pretty blonde from cal’s office,’ to Luke’s name._

_To: Luke Hemmings  
-i’m going up to my mum’s this weekend, when i get back i expect that all of your shit is out and your key is on the table or else i’m donating all of it._

_The response had come not too long after, as if Luke had been waiting for a message._

_From: Luke Hemmings  
-Please, Ashton, we can talk about this... _

_To: Luke Hemmings_  
-you have until sunday at 6pm.  
-take all of your pictures from the walls too. 

_And he didn’t say another thing._

_He hadn’t told his mum about what happened, just said he was making a last minute visit._

_He was a bit worried to get there and see Calum’s old house next door. He wondered if Calum had called and told his parents what he had done yet._

_Ashton showed up at his mum’s house at around 9:30._

_He walked to the door, unable to stop the tears from welling up when he saw the house next door, the bright blue curtains in that window he knew so well, and knocked._

_His mum answered quickly, frowning when she saw him._

_“Honey, what happened?”_

_Ashton just shook his head. “I can’t, mum.”_

_He cried, falling into her arms and breathing heavy against her shoulder._

_She pulled him inside, her voice quiet in his ears telling him it’s okay._

_“Joy is in the kitchen, would you like her to make you some tea?”_

_“No, no. I can’t see her. I can’t see any of them. I can’t.”_

_Anne frowned yet again, staring into her son’s red rimmed eyes. “Why not? Why can’t you see her? What happened, Ashton.”_

_Ashton let out a sob as he saw Joy turn the corner, holding a blue mug in her hand._

_“I can’t!”_

_He sobbed against his mother’s shoulder and allowed himself to be pulled as she led him into the living room and onto the couch._

_“Please, Ash, tell me what’s the matter. I don’t know what to do right now.”_

_Ashton cried harder, but let out a sigh and started talking._

_“Me and Luke broke up.”_

_He heard a gasp come from both his mother and Calum’s. He had kind of forgotten she was there._

_“No, honey, why? What happened?”_

_Ashton reached a hand up to wipe his eyes as he said his next words. “He cheated on me, mum. Almost six years and he threw it away, just like that. Eleven months. Eleven whole months of him with someone else.”_

_He didn’t mention it was_ Calum _that Luke had been with, he didn’t want to. Not with Joy only two feet away from him. But, of course, she asked anyway._

_It was the first thing Joy had said to him. “With who? Why would he do that?”_

_Ashton’s heart broke yet again._

_“Joy... I can’t... I’m sorry.” He looked directly into her eyes, watching as they went from pity to confusion to realization and finally to anger._

_“You’re... Calum? He was with Calum?”_

_Ashton sobbed yet again as he nodded, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Two hours ago, I got home and found them in my bed.”_

_Ashton couldn’t breathe for the third time that night._

_He felt his mum rubbing soft circles into his back, still looking at Joy and seeing the pure anger coursing through her. He had never seen her so upset._

_“Is he fucking insane? What the hell!”_

_Ashton, in twenty two years, had never heard Joy Hood curse._

_He gasped, somehow crying even harder._

_“Ashton, I’m so, so sorry. You don’t deserve this at all. But, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to make a phone call.”_

_Ashton just nodded._

_Joy didn’t leave the house, just walked into the next room, Anne’s bedroom, and closed the door. He felt his mother’s fingers run through his hair while he tried to listen through the walls._

_“I told him that he has to have all of his stuff out by Sunday.”_

_He heard Anne hum, “good.”_

_And that’s all she said._

_He was grateful for the silence, it gave him a moment to calm himself down and to also listen to Joy’s voice from the next room._

_He couldn’t hear everything, but he heard some._

_“...Know something interesting, Calum? ...Ashton on Anne’s couch... crying... He said.... Luke and you... Any explanation?”_

_About half a minute passed before her voice came through agin._

_“Crush on Luke? ...a crush come between... break twenty two years... why would you be so stupid? ... work together. I don’t care if you met Luke first.”_

_A crush. Calum had a crush on Luke. Calum was jealous of Ashton. Calum did know Luke first, but he developed a crush on him? That’s not a terrible thing in itself, it happens, but did he really pursue it and let twenty two years wash away?_

-

_Ashton feels pathetic. Here he is, twenty six years old, crying into his mother’s shoulder._

_He should be able to handle this on his own. Joy shouldn’t have had to call Calum herself, Ashton should have been able to talk to him. But he couldn’t._

_Because he’s an idiot._

_Maybe that’s why Luke and Calum both betrayed him. They realized how_ stupid _and_ worthless _he is. They’ve realized that he doesn’t matter._

_Twenty-two years is what it took for Calum to realize that Ashton wasn’t worth his time. It only took Luke six._

_“I was gonna propose to him, mum. I have a ring and everything.”_

_He hadn’t spoken in about ten minutes, just cried into his mother’s shoulder._

_He felt her take in a sharp breath, and he heard Joy gasp from her place on the other couch in the room. He pulled away from his mother, looking up at her face and seeing her crying._

_He made his mum cry. Again, he’s absolutely worthless._

_“Ash,” she trailer off, bringing a hand up to his face and wiping the tears from under his eyes. “I’m so sorry, love. You don’t deserve this one bit, you know that, right?”_

_He looked right into her eyes, seeing the sincerity and the love radiating from her, but he couldn’t believe what she was saying. He shrugged._

_“Ashton. Listen to me. You don’t deserve this. They’re both just assholes, alright? You’re wonderful and if they can’t see that then it’s their loss. I know it hurts, love, but you have to know that you did nothing wrong.”_

_Ashton still couldn’t believe that he didn’t deserve this. But he wasn’t going to say anything, he didn’t want to make his mum cry anymore. He wasn’t going to be a burden._

_“Yeah, okay. I did nothing wrong.”_

_She nodded, and he felt his heart break again._

-

_That weekend ended too soon. He had spent the next day with Harry, who was 16, and they played footie in the backyard. Lauren was away at uni, but they facetimed that night._

_She asked how Luke was doing that night and he had to tell her they weren’t together anymore. He didn’t say why, but she cried anyway._

_“I’ll hurt him if he hurt you, Ash.”_

_He told her he broke up with Luke._

_Which isn’t untrue, because he did break up with Luke, but he didn’t tell her why._

_“It just wasn’t working, Laur.”_

_“Bullshit, Ash. There’s something you’re not telling me.”_

_He nodded, and smiled sadly. “Just don’t worry about it.”_

_“Was it his fault, or yours? I need to know how pissed I should be right now.”_

_Ashton chuckled, it felt good to laugh again. “His, but don’t like, call him or anything. Don’t worry about it alright?”_

_She didn’t look convinced, but she nodded anyway, and then they just held a small conversation before hanging up._

_By Sunday, Ashton was terrified to go home._

_He wanted all of Luke’s stuff gone when he got home, but also, that would mean this was_ real _and that he actually didn’t have a boyfriend or a best friend anymore._

_He left his mum’s place around 4, saying goodbye to his and Calum’s family. After an hour, he was back in his town, but he couldn’t find it in himself to go home alone._

_He knew Michael’s bakery was closed on Sundays, so he drove to the man’s house, walking up to the doorstep._

_He knocked, and Michael answered a few moments later._

_And he broke._

_Ashton sat there, on Michael’s doorstep, and explained everything from the promotion to the champagne to the bird on the side of the road and then he told Michael about the skirt on the floor and the thumping and Luke calling him baby and telling him they could talk about this. He told Michael about the pictures he broke and his trip to his mother’s house and Joy’s phone call to Calum and his conversation with Lauren._

_By the time he was done, he could see the pure anger in Michael’s eyes._

_“I’m gonna kill them. Both of them.”_

_Ashton managed to talk him down from his murder plans, instead asking him to come home with him, to make sure Luke and all of his things were gone._

_-_

_When they pulled up to Ashton’s house, Luke’s car was in the driveway._

_“Don’t kill him, Mikey.”_

_“No promises,” Michael said, as he shut the car off and opened his door._

_They walked over to the garage door, pulling it open and stepping inside. Ashton walked behind Michael as they stepped through the kitchen and dining room and into the living room._

_The glass from the broken pictures was cleaned up but no other pictures had been removed from the walls._

_Luke was no where to be seen downstairs, so that led Ashton to believe he was in the bedroom— hopefully packing his things._

_They walked up the stairs and, sure enough, there was Luke._

_He wasn’t packing, instead just sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. Michael cleared his throat, and Ashton watched as Luke’s head shot up._

_“Ash, I-”_

_Ashton shook his head, “no, why aren’t you packing?”_

_Luke frowned. “Can’t we talk about this?”_

_Ashton heard Michael scoff behind him, and he had to hold his arm out to make sure he wasn’t going to murder Luke._

_“No, Luke, we can’t. What is there to talk about? The fact that you’ve been cheating on me for almost a year? Pack your shit and get out.”_

_“I found it, Ashton.”_

_Ashton’s heart stopped. He wasn’t talking about what he thinks he’s talking about, right?_

_“You found what, Luke?”_

_He watched as Luke walked across the room, opening a small box on the desk. It used to hold ink for the printer, but instead there was a small ring box inside. “The ring, Ash. I found the ring.”_

_“When?”_

_Luke looked up. “Yesterday.”_

_Luke was crying, but Ashton couldn’t understand why. He was the one to ruin this._

_“I’m sorry, Ashton.”_

_“Just like I said on Friday, no, you aren’t. If you were sorry you wouldn’t have fucked my best friend.”_

_He saw the desperation and anguish in Luke’s eyes, the regret shining through the blue eyes Ashton fell in love with._

_“I still love you, Ashton. I made a mistake!”_

_“Mistakes happen once. Not every week for a year. Get out. I’ll have your stuff packed by Wednesday and you can get it off of the porch.”_

_Right as he was saying that, he heard the front door screeching open. “Luke?”_

_Fuck._

_“No,” Ashton said, looking at Luke who still had tears falling down his face._

_He heard Michael fuming behind him. “Ashton, I’m probably going to punch him if he comes up these stairs, so sorry in advance.”_

_Ashton didn’t even try to stop him._

_Calum came up a few moments later, wearing a black hoodie that Ashton recognized as his own._

_But before he could say anything about it, he watched Michael’s fist hit Calum in the jaw._

_“What the fuck!” Calum yelled, gripping his face in his hand. “Michael!”_

_Ashton felt himself on the edge of a breakdown yet again as he sat down on the bed. He could see Luke in the corner of his eye, coming towards him, but Michael walked over before Luke could._

_“Get out. Both of you. He doesn’t want you here.”_

_“Let him speak for himself, Michael,” Calum hissed, still holding his jaw. “Look, Ash, I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know how to fix this.”_

_Ashton looked up, locking eyes with the boy he’d spent the past twenty two years of his life with. “I can’t believe you, Calum. You aren’t the same person I’ve known my whole life. I don’t know who you are anymore. So leave, please. Just go. I can’t handle having you or Luke here anymore.”_

_He watched Calum’s lips turn into a frown, but he and Luke left down the stairs soon after._

-

Ashton hasn’t seen either of them in six months.

Luke had come soon after then to pick up all of his things that Ashton had thrown on the porch outside, most of his clothes in trash bags and pictures in boxes. He remembers placing the ring box on top of a stack of other things, and he watched out the window as Luke picked it up. 

He had cried, and that made Ashton feel good for some reason. Seeing Luke crying as if he realized what he’d lost. He watched Luke take the ring from the box and place it on his hand, sobbing, before he shoved it back in the box and put it in his pocket.

Ashton walked away from the window after that.

-

Ashton was standing in his bedroom, Michael downstairs waiting on him so they could watch a movie. 

He grabbed a hoodie from the closet, pulling it over his head but immediately feeling sick when he smelled the rose perfume on the fabric. This was one of Luke’s hoodies Calum had worn. He pulled it off and threw it across the room, feeling a tear fall down his cheek. 

Instead of taking one from the closet, he walked over the the desk chair, grabbing the one hanging off the back and pulling it on, Michael’s cologne filling his nose. 

This was much better. 

That night, he laid in Michael’s arms with Michael’s lips pressed to the back of his neck, and every memory of Luke and Calum seemed to disappear for a night. 

In a year, all of the furniture had been replaced, and the house remodeled, all traces of Luke had gone away.

In four years, the empty spots on the walls from the missing pictures of Calum and Luke were filled with pictures of Michael and Karen and Daryl and their now shared dogs, Moose and South. 

In five years, an engagement ring was wrapped around Ashton’s finger. 

In seven years, there was a new ring around Ashton’s finger and one also on Michael’s hand. 

In eight years, the spare bedroom was transformed to hold a small bed and light blue walls and a two year old girl named Rose.

And in twenty years, rose scented perfume no longer brought bad memories, instead it made Ashton think of his daughter.


End file.
